


Three Can Keep A Secret, If Two Of Them Are Dead.

by aenor_llelo



Series: For A Diamond Is A Marveled Thing [10]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Bismuth Is A Genius And This Is Not Always A Good Thing, Crystal Gems, Discussions On The Morality And Ethics Of War, Gem War, Gems Learning From Humans In The Worst Possible Way, Gemsong, Gen, Leadership Means Learning About The Terrible Terrible Knowledge Of Your Most Trusted Advisors, Mercy Killing, One Shot, Science Experiments, Steven Universe is a Diamond, gem culture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-22 12:56:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22916524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aenor_llelo/pseuds/aenor_llelo
Summary: Bismuth Facet-J24 Hopper-D37A was, and still remains, among the best weaponsmiths, engineers, and architects of all Gemkind. Maybe even The Best.orGems don't die. Maybe they should.
Relationships: Bismuth & Steven Universe
Series: For A Diamond Is A Marveled Thing [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1604959
Comments: 32
Kudos: 504





	Three Can Keep A Secret, If Two Of Them Are Dead.

* * *

Bismuth, Facet-J24 Hopper-D37A.

Architect. Weaponsmith. Engineer. Shipwright. Pirate.

The first polymath Gem, and it was a lowly stonemason whose great black symbol was as feared and respected as the flag of Rose Quartz. Homeworld had long learned to be wary of even the most feeble and fragile Gems, so long as they bore a weapon scorched with her brand. 

In Era 1, she had the honor of being trusted with the great designs of the elite.

In Era 2, she was a dead whispered legend sprouted from the nightmares of old soldiers.

In Era 3, to bear a tool made by her hand, branded with her sign- that was what it meant to be elite. It was to have the trust of a skilled artisan, a Crystal Gem which held the confidence of Asteria Diamond himself, and be deemed the finest hand to carry her work.

It's a damn good Era for business.

It's a damn good Era for Bismuth.

That's what she tells herself while she whittles out a new upgrade for Biggs' atlatl. And it ain't a lie. It's real nice, this new world. This new life. Gems, from Pebbles to Diamonds, allowed and expected to... _invent_ who they are. She never could have dreamed of this. Not during the war, when all that mattered was that the rebellion was alive and the rabid, rabid ambition to crush the shattered dust of the Diamonds under her heels.

A new Era. A new Diamond, and with him, a small piece of peace and happiness for Gemkind.

And here's Bismuth, good ol' classic Bismuth, cranking out more weapons.

=<>=

"Yo, Steven. Next time you ain't sleepin', mind swingin' by the shop? There's... there's some stuff I need to catch you up on. Old projects."

=<>=

His next sleepless night comes worryingly quickly, for a creature that should be getting frequent rest, but she doesn't have the business or context to question it. 

"Listen, could we take this to the Forge? I want to keep this on a need-to-know basis, don't want anygem overhearing." There's a bit of a _look_ on his face that makes her add, "No fightin' or anything. Literally just talking, I swear."

Lion makes quick work of what would have been near half and hour's trek from the warp, and her forge opens up like an old friend.

Steven looks around at the fresh metal. "You still do work here?"

"Yeah. I keep all the serious stuff here." Oh, stars, the tension could shatter her now. Might as well cut to the dike of it. "You remember the Breaking Point."

His eyes are carefully blank.

"I ain't bringin' it back! I ain't. It was real bad, I get that now. But I think you deserve to know how I got to making the thing in the first place."

"You wanted to end the war by shattering Gems."

"A Gem can lose its form, but it'll always come back. As long as you got a buddy to keep you safe until you come back, there's no consequences to losing your body. Before I came to Earth, something like _death?_ It was inconceivable."

"What about shattering?"

"You and I both know that ain't the same. That ain't death. We could only wish it was." She turns over some metal chips in her hands. "Even if you ground a Gem to paste, it would not be death. But then I saw your folks. The humans. That one day they can simply _stop_. Stop thinking, moving, being. The first time I saw it happen, I..." she breaks off with a short, bitter laugh. "It was an Aquamarine's sword through her stomach. We found her after the battle, when we were scrambling to find missing Gems or shards. I didn't understand why Rose was crying so hard. Her body was right there. I thought we could pull the sword out and she'd get back up again. But she didn't. And it got me thinking."

"About what?"

"About how Rose told us to never shatter a fellow Gem, but the Diamonds never bothered to think about why. They had their soldiers shatter every rock they could find. The war didn't have consequences for them, not real ones. When I saw that dead human, I realized that the War was just... going through the motions. Like at some point, it stopped being real. A piece of clockwork that was never, ever gonna end, and I didn't want that. I didn't want my friends to live the rest of their lives going through the motions waiting to get shattered. So I decided to give the war consequences. Stakes. Something worth ending."

"The Breaking Point."

"The Breaking Point was just a prototype for what I really wanted. I wanted _better_ than shattered, Steven. I wanted dead. And I found it." She taps her Gem. "Right here."

"What are you saying?" There's a nervous twinge in his gemsong now. " _What did you do?_ "

"A human can die with its brain intact because all it takes is for the code to disappear. I realized that Gems were the same. We aren't our gems, Steven. We're the memories, the program inside our stones. If you got rid of that... nothin' left but a lifeless scrap of rock."

" _Please._ "

Steven is entirely still, eyes shuttered, holding his own hands like a lover's lifeline.

" _Please._ " The voice is Steven's, who else's could it be, but the timber of his song is so wound, so wavering, it's almost unrecognizable. " _You didn't. You didn't, please tell me you didn't._ "

"Never on a Gem. Just some blank code stones. Enough to know it would have worked if I tried."

" _Thank the skies,_ " he barely breathes, staggering back against an urn.

"You good?"

"Yeah, yeah. I just... yeah." A line of pink tracks along his cheeks for a moment, trampled with worrying efficiency.

"Steven..." _What did you just do to yourself? Who made you feel like you ever had to learn to do that to yourself?_ "...You don't have to act like you're okay with this. _I'm_ barely okay with this, and it was all my idea in the first place."

His face is politely blank and subdued, like he was never upset at all. "Why did you tell me all this?"

"I..." _I don't know._ "I felt like you should know. You deserve to know, and you deserve to hear it from me, on our own terms, instead of letting this blow up in our faces sometime in the future."

"You realize that, objectively, this makes you possibly one of the most dangerous individuals to all of Gemkind. In the history of Gems."

"That's why I'm telling you."

"I mean, at least on equal level to the Diamonds. Who will likely advise that I shatter you for possessing this kind of knowledge."

"Uh..."

"No, I am not shattering you. This talk never leaves this room."

"Thanks, I guess."

He drops her back off and almost makes to leave by the time she finds her words again.

"Seriously, though. Thanks for listening. I know it's... a lot. Feel free to chew me out over it later."

"I'll keep that in mind," he laughs as he warps away.

She almost believes that he means it.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> bismuth is the most dangerous crystal gem, change my mind
> 
> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Join the Discord server for draft bits, behind the scenes nonsense, yearning questions of my questionable literary choices, and future stories.
> 
> https://discord.gg/xdhnqKj
> 
> This series now has a dedicated written timeline for the curious in the series companion guide, which is the last "fic" listed in the series page.


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